This article is going to focus on numbers! Clearly, they’re an important part of any language, and are used every day, including for talking about dates, times, ages, prices ... the list goes on!
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A Comprehensive Guide to Counting from 1 to 100
Pronunciation
Enter your text here... | Latin America/Spain |
0 = cero | ’seh-roh/’theh-roh |
Cardinal Numbers in Spanish
So, to learn how to count, we need the cardinal numbers.
Clearly we’re not going to list every single number from 0 to 1,000 or 1,000,000 or beyond! Luckily, we have patterns that mean you only have to learn the small numbers (and the big multiples like ‘hundred’ and ‘thousand’ in order to be able to figure out how to say any number.
Let’s start with 0-20:0 | cero (’seh-roh/’the-roh) |
1 | uno* (’oo-noh) |
2 | dos (dohs) |
3 | tres (trehs) |
4 | cuatro (’kwah-troh) |
5 | cinco (’seehn-koh/’theehn-koh) |
6 | seis (’seh-ees) |
7 | siete (see-’eh-teh) |
8 | ocho (’oh- choh) |
9 | nueve (noo-’eh-beh) |
10 | diez (dee-’ehs/dee-’eth) |
11 | once (’ohn-seh/’ohn-theh) |
12 | doce (’doh-seh/’doh-theh) |
13 | trece (’treh-seh/’treh-theh) |
14 | catorce (kah-’tohr-seh/kah-’tohr-theh) |
15** | quince (’keen-seh/’keen-theh) |
16*** | dieciséis (dee-ehs-ee-’seh-ees/dee-eth-ee-’seh-ees) |
17*** | diecisiete (dee-ehs-ee-see-’eh-teh/dee-eth-ee-see-’eh-teh) |
18*** | dieciocho (dee-ehs-ee-’oh-choh/dee-eth-ee-’oh-choh) |
19*** | diecinueve (dee-ehs-ee-noo-’eh-beh/dee-eth-ee-noo-’eh-beh) |
20 | veinte (’beh-een-teh) |
* The number one is uno. However, if you want to say that you have one of something, you use un for a masculine noun, and una for a feminine noun! For example, ‘Tengo un hermano y una hermana.’ (‘I have one brother and one sister.’)
** You may have heard of a celebration called the quinceañera that’s celebrated in parts of Latin America and parts of the US. It marks a girl’s 15th birthday, and, as you can see, comes from the word quince (‘15’) and the word año (‘year’)!
*** The words for 16, 17, 18, and 19 are pretty smart. They come from mashing together words. For example, 17 comes from blending together the words diez y siete (‘ten and seven’).Okay, let’s move on to 21-30:
21* | veintiuno (beh-een-tee-’oo-noh) |
22 | veintidós (beh-een-tee-’dohs) |
23 | veintitrés (beh-een-tee-’trehs) |
24 | veinticuatro (beh-een-tee-’kwah-troh) Enter your text here... |
25 | veinticinco (beh-een-tee-’seehn-koh/beh-een-tee-’theehn-koh) |
26 | veintiséis (beh-een-tee-’seh-ees) |
27 | veintisiete (beh-een-tee-see-’eh-teh) |
28 | veintiocho (beh-een-tee-’oh-choh) |
29 | veintinueve (beh-een-tee-noo-’eh-beh) |
30 | treinta (’treh-een-tah) |
With the twenties, we carry on blending words together, e.g. veintidos (‘22’) comes from veinte y dos (twenty and two).
* We mentioned earlier that uno becomes un or una before a noun. It’s similar with 21, 31, and so on:
Tú tienes veintiún plátanos. Yo tengo veintuna manzanas. (‘You have 21 bananas. I have 21 apples.’)
Now, let’s look at the 30s:31 | treinta y uno (’treh-een-tah ee ’oo-noh) |
32 | treinta y dos (’treh-een-tah ee dohs) |
33 | treinta y tres (’treh-een-tah ee trehs) |
34 | treinta y cuatro (’treh-een-tah ee ’kwah-troh) |
35 | treinta y cinco (’treh-een-tah ee ’seehn-koh/ ’treh-een-tah ee ’theehn-koh) |
36 | treinta y seis (’treh-een-tah ee ’seh-ees) |
37 | treinta y siete (’treh-een-tah ee see-’eh-teh) |
38 | treinta y ocho (’treh-een-tah ee ’oh-choh) |
39 | treinta y nueve (’treh-een-tah ee noo-’eh-beh) |
40 | cuarenta (kwah-’rehn-tah) |
In the thirties, we still do a little bit of math, but we don’t need to worry about mashing words together now! For example, 35 is simply treinta y cinco (‘thirty and five’).
The same rule applies for the 40s, 50s, all the way up to and including the 90s!
Now you know that, you just need to get to 100 in multiples of 10, so let’s look at 10-100, to recap the earlier ones and advance up to higher numbers:10 | diez (dee-’ehs/dee-’eth) |
20 | veinte (’beh-een-teh) |
30 | treinta (’treh-een-tah) |
40 | cuarenta (kwah-’rehn-tah) |
50 | cincuenta (seen-’kwehn-tah/theen-’kwehn-tah) |
60 | sesenta (seh-’sehn-tah) |
70 | setenta (seh-’tehn-tah) |
80 | ochenta (oh-’chehn-tah) |
90 | noventa (noh-’behn-tah) |
100 | ciento* OR cien* (see-’ehn-toh/thee-’ehn-toh) OR (see-’ehn/thee-’ehn) |
When you’re counting to 100, you can use either ciento or cien. When we’re using it to count a noun, it has to be cien.
For example,
I have a hundred puppies. | Tengo cien perritos. |
When we’re using numbers from 101-199, we have to use ciento:
102 | ciento dos (see-’ehn-toh dohs/thee-’ehn-toh dohs) |
132 | ciento treinta y dos (see-’ehn-toh ’treh-een-tah ee dohs/thee-’ehn-toh ’treh-een-tah ee dohs) |
160 | ciento sesenta (see-’ehn-toh se-’sehn-tah/thee-’ehn-toh se-’sehn-tah) |
Next, we’ll look at the hundreds, from 100-900.
100 | ciento OR cien (see-’ehn-toh/thee-’ehn-toh) OR (see-’ehn/thee-’ehn) |
200 | doscientos (dohs-see-’ehn-tohs/dohs-thee-’ehn-tohs) |
300 | trescientos (trehs-see-’ehn-tohs/trehs-thee-’ehn-tohs) |
400 | cuatrocientos (kwah-troh-see-’ehn-tohs/kwah-troh-thee-’ehn-tohs) |
500 | quinientos (keen-ee-’ehn-tohs) |
600 | seiscientos (seh-ees-see-’ehn-tohs/seh-ees-thee-’ehn-tohs) |
700 | setecientos (seh-teh-see-’ehn-tohs/seh-teh-thee-’ehn-tohs) |
800 | ochocientos (oh-choh-see-’ehn-tohs/oh-choh-thee-’ehn-tohs) |
900 | novecientos (noh-beh-see-’ehn-tohs/noh-beh-thee-’ehn-tohs) |
Some of them are just counting hundreds, e.g. cuatrocientos is a joined-up version of cuatro cientos. How many hundreds? Four hundreds. Others (500,700, and 900) are a tiny bit different because what would Spanish be without exceptions to the rules?!
Now for the big ’uns! Let’s look at 1,000-1,000,000,000!
1.000* | mil (meel) |
10.000 | diez mil (dee-’ehs meel/dee-’eth meel) |
100.000 | cien mil (see-’ehn meel/thee-’ehn meel) |
1.000.000 (a million) | un millón (oon mee-’yohn) |
1.000.000.000 (a billion) | un billón (oon bee-’yohn) |
* Interestingly, with Spanish numbers, commas are used when in English we’d use decimal points, and vice versa. So the English ‘5.5’ (five and a half) translates into Spanish as 5,5! And it works the other way round, too. The English 2,000 (two thousand) translates into Spanish as 2.000!
How to say your age in Spanish
In English, we use the verb ‘to be’ when it comes to age. In Spanish, we use ‘to have.’
The word for ‘year(s)’ is año(s). That little squiggle on the ñ is super important. If you skip it, you’re talking about how many anuses you have. You have been warned.I am 21 years old. | Tengo veintiún años OR Tengo veintiuno. |
María is 69 years old. | María tiene sesenta y nueve años. |
Ordinal Numbers in Spanish
As we mentioned at the start, ordinal numbers are used for stating the position of something.
First of all (see what I did there?!) let’s look at 1st-20th:first | primero OR primer* (pree-’meh-roh) OR (pree-’mehr) |
second | segundo (seh-’goon-doh) |
third | tercero OR tercer* (tehr-’seh-roh/tehr-’theh-roh) OR (tehr-’sehr/tehr-’thehr) |
fourth | cuarto (’kwahr-toh) |
fifth | quinto (’keen-toh) |
sixth | sexto (’sehks-toh) |
seventh | séptimo (’sehp-tee-moh) |
eighth | octavo (oc-’tah-boh) |
ninth | noveno OR nono (noh-’beh-noh) OR (’noh-noh) |
tenth | décimo (’deh-see-moh/’deh-thee-moh) |
eleventh | undécimo (oon-’deh-see-moh/oon-’deh-thee-moh) |
twelfth | duodécimo (doo-oh-’deh-see-moh/doo-oh-’deh-thee-moh) |
thirteenth | decimotercio OR decimotercero (deh-see-moh-’tehr-see-oh/deh-thee-moh-’tehr-thee-oh /) OR (deh-see-moh-tehr-’seh-roh /deh-thee-moh-tehr-’theh-roh) |
fourteenth | decimocuarto (deh-see-moh-’kwahr-toh/deh-thee-moh-’kwahr-toh) |
fifteenth | decimoquinto (deh-see-moh-’keen-toh/deh-thee-moh-’keen-toh) |
sixteenth | decimosexto (deh-see-moh-’sehks-toh/deh-thee-moh-’sehks-toh) |
seventeenth | decimoséptimo (deh-see-moh-’sehp-tee-moh/deh-thee-moh-’sehp-tee-moh) |
eighteenth | decimoctavo (deh-see-moc-’tah-boh/deh-thee-moc-’tah-boh) |
nineteenth | decimonoveno OR decimonono (deh-see-moh-noh-’beh-noh/deh-thee-moh-noh-’beh-noh) OR (deh-see-moh-’noh-noh /deh-thee-moh-’noh-noh) |
twentieth | vigésimo (bee-’heh-see-moh) |
* primero becomes primer before a masculine singular noun, and the same happens with tercero-->tercer.
Note that the Spanish ordinals all end in -o, which is simpler than English (we have ‘-st’ and ‘-nd’ and ‘-rd’ and ‘-th’ to choose from)!
Instead of writing out whole words, in English we often use those last letters with the figure. We do the same in Spanish. The last letter is always o (or a, to agree with a feminine noun).| 1st | 1o |
| 2nd | 2o |
| 3rd time | 3a vez |
| 106th cookie | 106a galleta |
Now things get a bit simpler (you’re welcome). We’ll look at 21st-100th:
twenty-first | vigésimo primero OR vigésimo primo |
twenty-second, etc. | vigésimo segundo, etc. |
From this point you just put the two words together, e.g. 20th (vigésimo) and 7th (séptimo) –> 27th (vigésimo séptimo)
Let’s go up in multiples of ten from 10th-100th:
tenth | décimo (’deh-see-moh/’deh-thee-moh) |
twentieth | vigésimo (bee-’heh-see-moh) |
thirtieth | trigésimo* (tree-’heh-see-moh) |
fortieth | cuadragésimo (kwah-drah-’heh-see-moh) |
fiftieth | quincuagésimo (keen-kwah-’heh-see-moh) |
sixtieth | sexagésimo (sehk-sah-’heh-see-moh) |
seventieth | septuagésimo (sept-oo-ah-’heh-see-moh) |
eightieth | octogésimo (oc-toh-’heh-see-moh) |
ninetieth | nonagésimo (noh-nah-’heh-see-moh) |
hundredth | centésimo (sehn-’teh-see-moh/thehn-’teh-see-moh) |
* 31st, 41st, etc. all have the same two options as 21st.
Now onto the really big ones (1,000th-1,000,000,000th):
thousandth | milésimo (mee-’leh-see-moh) |
millionth | millonésimo (mee-yohn-’eh-see-moh) |
billionth | milmillonésimo (meel-mee-yohn-’eh-see-moh) |
Quiz time!
Write out the following numbers in words (in Spanish!). Take your time with this one, and try to figure them out using the patterns we’ve shown you.
1. 14
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2. 152
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3. 800 female nurses
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4. 1.003
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5. 1994
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6. 20.000
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7. 5th
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8. 20th
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9. 38th
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10. (I can’t control myself. I just ate my) 102nd cookie!
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Amazing work!
If you’re new to Spanish numbers and made it through that quiz, then I really applaud your effort!
There are some numbers that you’ll use more frequently than others, but it’s good to know the patterns so when you see any number written down, you have the knowledge you need to figure out how to say it out loud! 2,935,096? No problem 😉
